FRUITS AND AUTUMNAL DAYS. 75 



able veracity that belongs to every department of the 

 works of God, so long as unmarred by man. The si- 

 lent predictions of nature would be theme enough for 

 a great volume. The maturity of a man's lifetime 

 would be well devoted to the record of them and to 

 their fulfilments, each one in turn, text for a preach- 

 er, and theme for a Christian philosopher. Many 

 flowers, it is true, fail in their promise ; but this is no 

 fault of the mechanism, it is no fault in any shape. 

 Were every flower that opens to ripen its fruit, the 

 strain would be greater than the plant could bear ; 

 and, as illustrated every summer in the flower-garden, 

 exuberance would be followed by slackness, perhaps 

 by total sterility. Therefore the exquisite taste and 

 wisdom, which in order not to use the Divine name 

 too frequently, men have agreed to call " Nature, " co- 

 operate in such a way that while the decoration shall 

 be all that the soul of man can desire in the shape of 

 beauty, a due proportion only shall be actually per- 

 mitted to serve the still higher purpose. We can 

 suppose what would be the condition of trees and 

 plants, were every individual to become fruitful, by 

 imagining what society would be, were every little 

 boy to become a Plato, and every little girl a Corinne. 

 The flowers gone by, the seed-pod makes its appear- 

 ance. This is no new thing. The seed was always 

 in the heart of the flower, as love in the heart of a 

 woman ; it wants only sunshine to bring it into view. 



